What You Should Know About Cancers, According to an Astrologer

June 20 through July 20 is Cancer season, and to get ready for this astrological time of year, we reached out to a professional astrologer to learn about the most prevalent traits of a Cancer. Rebecca Gordon has been practising astrology since she was 14 and teaching it for almost 20 years. She spoke with POPSUGAR to share what she knows about this zodiac sign that’s led by the moon and highly influenced by their feelings.

Cancer Traits: They’re Always Changing

Cancers have very fluid personalities. Their connection to water and the moon can make their emotions ever-shifting and ephemeral. Gordon says that in astrology it’s important to observe each sign’s planetary ruler. “Cancer is ruled by the moon,” she tells POPSUGAR. “The moon waxes into a full moon, it wanes into a new moon, and waxes and wanes again and again. This ebb and flow of the moon is resembling the ebbs and flows of tides. Cancer is very connected to the concept of change and the emotional body – the feelings, the soul – that is always moving and changing as well.”

Cancer Traits: They’re Tuned into Their Emotions

Because so much of their lives are driven by emotions, Cancers are very aware of their intuition and emotions. “They make great counsellors because they’re discussing other people’s feelings,” Gordon says. “They can feel their feelings and connect really deeply.” This is a powerful tool possessed by Cancers.

The ability to recognise their emotions and feel them as deeply as they do means that Cancers excel in empathising with others. “This is the sign that represents the realm of sensitivity and emotions,” Gordon explains, “the realm of care and compassion.” This makes Cancers very nurturing people with a knack for hospitality and sentimentality. Not only do they feel their own emotions on a very deep level, but they can relate to and feel those of others as well.

Cancer Traits: They’re Protective of Their Feelings

With great power comes great responsibility, as they say, and the same is true for the emotional depth of the Cancer. Many Cancers learn to cope with all of their feelings by putting a guard up. They may be in-touch with their emotions and good at helping others process theirs, but it can be hard for outsiders to break down the barriers Cancers construct around themselves. “When they feel threatened, they can develop a hard shell and close off from the world,” Gordon says. She also points to the Cancerian symbol of the crab as an analogy: “Cancer is symbolised by the crab, which has a hard shell on its exterior, because there’s a need to protect itself, to protect the soft interior and all of the feelings inside. So there’s that sense of a soft underbelly and a kind of protective shell that the Cancerians have.”

Cancer Traits: They’re Strong Leaders

Despite often being characterised as docile, Cancers can be very influential. “What I really want to make clear about Cancers is that it’s not just a domestic sign that is baking apple pie all day; that’s kind of what you read in some of the books. They’re nurturing, sweet, domestic, but that’s just half of the story,” Gordon explains. “They are that and they need that, but it’s also known as a cardinal sign. A cardinal sign means they’re one of the more tenacious signs of the zodiac. Most managers are Cancerians. Why? Because the greatest managers are most caring to their employees.”

Gordon says this power of influence can come from their element: water. “Water is a really powerful element,” she says, “It’s the most powerful actually, because over time, water can change the shape of rocks and earth. Emotion and water can put out the fires, it can mold the Earth into a new shape. So this is the force of feeling, to mobilise and to change the direction.”